Splintered Fate (16 page)

“
Make some more and practice,
trying to hit that stick.” Kaiden said, looking at Alex. “I have an
idea. We will make you outshine your sister.” Kaiden said with a
wink.

Alex grinned in response, creating
another stick in his hand.

* * *

“
Why are you so fond of
butterflies?” Nadina asked.

Lana was lost for a moment at the
sudden question. Before she gathered her thoughts Nadina added,
“With Kirill the other day you made a butterfly and you wear one in
your hair,” explaining her reason for asking.

“
Nadina!” Donn’s sudden stern
voice made the girl jump. “Enough of your questions. Stop badgering
Ms. Casteel!”

Nadina’s apologetic eyes met
Lana’s for a brief moment before Lana cut in. “No, it’s okay…” She
glanced at Donn. Why did he react that way? Did he know? It
wouldn’t be surprising if he did, the old man seemed to know a
whole lot.

“
My mother used to like
butterflies, the pin I wear in my hair used to belong to her.” Lana
replied softly and everyone fell silent. Nadina dropped her
gaze.

Kaiden rejoined the group just in
time to hear the end of the conversation. He looked at everyone’s
faces, gathering that something bad had happened to Lana’s
mom.

“
What happened to her?” He asked
before being able to stop himself. Everyone turned to him, but he
kept his eyes on Lana. He could feel heat reach his cheeks,
regretting asking as soon as the words left his lips. Now all that
he could do was watch Lana, who for a fleeting moment seemed lost,
as if un sure of how to respond to his stupid question.

“
She was killed, boy.” Donn said
in a low voice.

Lana’s mind took her to another
place, far into the past and she began speaking without really
meaning to. “It happened a while ago. Father and I were making the
journey to Gorthyn from the Ucu gates. I couldn’t wait to tell her
all about the school and instructors, to be in her arms, to taste
her cooking again. They had good food at Ucu, very good, but not
like hers. Nothing could compare to hers.”

Tears began forming in Lana’s eyes
as she continued. “We smelled the fire before we saw it. The entire
town, once beautiful, with the buildings and cottages built amongst
the trees, was burned. Smoke was still rising from houses. Father
told me to stay while he looked closer, told Ardin to keep me
there. I didn’t listen. I walked up to the only un-burnt house I
could see. It seemed safe enough, so I opened the door. Maybe there
were survivors in it? There was so much blood, it was as if the
whole town were massacred in this one cottage. A woman lay in a
pool of it. Her long blond hair was drenched in it. Then I noticed
a pendent in her hair, a beautiful butterfly…” Lana’s eyes snapped
up at Kaiden. “She, like my father, was murdered by a Rami.” Sher
voice had an edge to it. Anger rippled through her.

Stop it,
Ardin suddenly in her mind.

Kaiden remained standing, holding
her gaze. “I am sorry for what you have gone through.” He said
through clenched teeth before he turned on his heels and walked
off, not wanting to say something he regretted to Lana
Casteel.

His pulse raced as he wondered
into the near by woods. A small part of him felt sorry for his old
friend, for her losses. But a greater part was angered by her
blame. He had lost too. At this point his brother, his only family
was alienated because of her. He was stuck in a strange world with
nothing but a bizarre old man, a couple kids, and a woman who hated
him for company.

Kaiden had given up everything to
save Lana’s life, only to have her looking at him and treating him
as if he were little more than a common murderer. A light erupted
from his palm destroying a tree in front of him. He needed to let
off some steam, to get away.

As Kaiden walked
off Ardin suddenly appeared in front of Lana.
Come with me. Now.

Lana stared at
him,
when did you become so
demanding.

Do not get cute
with me, Lana. There is something you need to know.
With that he walked away. Lana watched him go
down the hill away from camp before she decided to follow
him.

“
What do you want from me, Ardin?
And why did we have to leave camp? No one can hear you lecture me
from the comforts of the warm fire.”

Ardin stopped by a tree in a small
opening just down the hill from camp. They could still see the fire
of camp. This would be far enough he decided.

Sit.

“
You’re kidding,” she stared as he
simply sat there looking at her. Lana was baffled by Ardin’s sudden
distance and one worded commands. Kaiden was no longer a helpless
boy, Ardin shouldn’t feel the need to protect him so much. With a
grumble of protest, she obliged her Aorra’s command and sat
down.

Your anger at
Kaiden is misdirected... Let me finish.
Ardin cut her off before she had a chance to object, and to
his surprise she didn’t fight him on this.

He didn’t kill
your mother, and a Rami may not fully be responsible for your
father’s death. I didn’t share this with you because I didn’t know
how you would react especially since your recent erratic behavior,
so I had to get you away from Abder.
Erratic behavior? If he were not her Aorra she would strangle
him. Ardin walked over to Lana, his nose nudged her hand and images
appeared in her head.

It was a memory, not her
own.

Lana saw herself crouching over
her father then the view turned to Kirill who stood stiffly taking
in the scene. She was seeing things from Ardin’s eyes. Kirill’s
steel gaze turned to Ardin. “Arkhip.” The words hardly came out in
a whisper from the steel eyed Dukran before he nodded over to Lana
and her father. Abruptly the memory was over.

Lana jumped to her feet “What does
this mean?” her pulse was racing.

Bile rose in her throat and her
head spun from the sudden jolt of emotion. She leaned her hand
against the tree trying to steady herself and her breathing, her
world was crashing down around her and it seemed that she knew
nothing of it. “Arkhip killed my father?” She was finally able to
get it out. Arkhip was crazy, she knew that, but to be responsible
in her father’s death? She didn’t want to believe a Madonian
Council member would do something like that.

We saw a Rami do that. But what of
Valdor’s Aorra, Earmon? How, with all of Arkhip’s powers and wolves
did a council member die?

Lana fell to her knees. She felt a tear roll
down her cheek as she thought of her last moments with Valdor. He
told her that his death would have happened no matter what she
would have done and to be careful of whom to trust. Could that have
been him trying to warn her, his way of telling her that the
Dukrans were to blame?

“
Leave me,” she whispered to her
Aorra. Her stomach turned. She knew Arkhip Dukran wanted control of
the Madonian Lands, but this, murder. What’s worse is her Aorra
didn’t trust her with this information, he kept it from her till
this moment. Never had she felt so alone.

Ardin obliged, leaving her not
only physically but mentally.

Chapter

Eight

Kaiden had not realized how far into the woods
he had ventured until he began heading back towards camp. His body
felt sore, aching with each step, as he found his way out of the
wood. The anger he felt was subdued though it was replaced by
frustration for allowing himself to venture aimlessly into an
unknown forest. He stopped walking and smelled the air, the faint
burning smell of wood filling his lungs, letting him know he was
close.

Turning to the woods behind him,
Kaiden peered into the darkness. He could just leave, he thought to
himself. He could go back to his brother, apologize. He could leave
this trouble and free himself of the guilt of acting out against
his blood like that. Striking his brother from behind, was not
something to be proud of.

An odd feeling of being watched
came over him while he pondered of his brother. Kaiden froze,
cautiously examining the forest behind him. To his surprise there
was nothing there but silent trees. He gazed over his shoulder a
moment longer, unable to shake the uncomfortable feeling. When he
turned back, there was a large white wolf standing in his
path.

“
Ardin” he spoke with relief,
calmed to have found the root of his sudden unease. The wolf sat
tall in front of him, making no movement. A moment passed before
Kaiden turned towards camp but a low grumble from the wolf stopped
him. He turned to Ardin who now walked a few paces away from him
and gestured to a tree at the bottom of the hill, in the other
direction. Kaiden walked over to the wolf and squinted. He could
barely make out a figure near the tree on the ground. She sat with
arms wrapped around her legs and her head buried in her
knees.

“
You want me to go to her?” Kaiden
asked the white wolf, feeling somewhat odd talking to an animal.
The Aorra gave him a single nod. There was no arguing with the wolf
for he could not hear the animal’s words.

Exhaustion pulled at his eye lids
and he thought of his options. It would probably be easier for him
to just oblige the wolf’s request. With a mere sigh and without
protest Kaiden made his way to her. He felt fatigued, too tired to
venture into the woods again in order to calm himself a second
time, so he hoped things would go better with her this time. If she
were to speak to him as if he were a traitor again then he wasn’t
sure he would be able to keep himself from snapping
back.

Lana raised her head when she
heard someone approaching. Her eyes stopped Kaiden in his tracks,
holding him in place. The grip her gaze had infuriated him. She was
just a woman, there was no reason for him to behave in such a
manor. Lana turned her eyes back at the ground, neither one of them
made a sound.

She no longer looked like a strong
woman of the council but like a girl. A small-lost child sitting on
the forest floor, waiting to be found, waiting for someone to tell
her everything will be all right. But Kaiden knew that would never
happen, because as soon as someone would try she would push him or
her away and punish them for even trying. Infuriatingly stubborn is
what she was.

Neither of them seemed to know
what to say so Kaiden decided to be the one to break the silence.
“We should go to the camp, it’s getting cold out here.”

The girl on the ground before him
just shook her head in silent protest without looking up. Sighing,
Kaiden looked over to the fire in the distance, the two kids and
the old man seemed to have gone to sleep. His gaze turned back to
where he had walked from, by the moonlight he could make out Ardin
sitting alert at the edge of the tree line. The wolf’s eyes and
ears facing their direction, he was trying to see what was going
on. Kaiden glanced back at Lana and understood that the two were no
longer connected, something had happened between her and her Aorra.
He assumed that that must be why Ardin had wanted him to go to her,
Ardin was worried and Lana wasn’t letting him in.

Kaiden turned and made his way to
the camp, leaving Lana. After a short while he returned with a
thick blanket, which he gently draped around Lana’s shoulders. His
finger brushed against Lana’s skin and suddenly he felt an urge to
pull her into his arms, and to comfort her. The feelings confused
him. A moment ago he was fuming, angry with her, contemplating just
flat out leaving. He thought he may hate her. Wanting nothing more
than to leave and not look back and now, more than anything, he
wanted to console her.

Kneeling in front of Lana, he
watched her for a moment in silence, hoping she would say something
but she didn’t even acknowledge him. He was about to get up and
leave her when her eyes suddenly connected with his, freezing
him.

“
How are you so kind? I do not
deserve your kindness. You saved my life and I…” her voice broke
off and her brows came together as if she was thinking of what
words to say. “I was so angry.” She looked back down at the
ground.

Kaiden’s hand momentarily
hesitated before nudging her chin up so that he could see her green
eyes. They were swollen from the tears she had cried. His urge to
comfort her was overpowering, he pulled his hand back. “I
understand loss. Anger is an understandable response to what you
went through. I am just happy it didn’t last much longer and you
didn’t sic your massive wolf on me.” He said with a small smile,
trying to lighten the mood.

Lana looked back down without a
smile and Kaiden cursed himself for bringing up Ardin when there
was clearly something going on between the two of them. He wasn’t
good at this.

Her eyes found their way back to
his and she spoke again. “I am responsible for my people now. I can
feel it, feel the pressure of them. Once Valdor passed its as if
the weight of them got transferred to me, it’s heavy. And instead
of dealing with it the way any one charged with protecting their
people should, what did I do? I am a horrible leader. My father
died and I ran away.”